Chapter 170: The Fairy from the West City and the Ugly Female from the Past Are the Same Person
After Tu Shanyi mentioned it, everyone remembered that the Beast King did not show up at the Saint Female's birthday party.
If what he said about not appearing in public for three consecutive months is true, then this is indeed very strange.
"No wonder Sheng Jieyue is so sure that she has the support of the Beast King and wants to sue and convict us. So this is the problem - even the Beast King is under their control!" Ling Rui was indignant and almost slammed the table in anger.
"The hunt at Danxue Mountain in three days must have been decided on their own initiative," Zhu Jiuyin suddenly said. "The habitat of the divine bird Phoenix has always been off-limits. How could the Beast King allow them to do this?"
Pei Xiaoxing's expression was as serious as ice. Things were much more complicated than he had imagined.
I used to think that the Beast King was foolish and mistakenly trusted his own prince and the so-called Holy Female. Now I realize that the Beast King might also be one of the innocent victims.
She was also in dire straits.
Pei Xiaoxing scoffed and said in a deep voice, "This means that Sheng Jieyue and Situ Yu are trying to seize all the real power in the continental country. They want to undermine the Beast King."
As the night deepened, the candlelight in the yard swayed in the wind, and the communication bell on Tu Shanyi's waist suddenly rang.
He let go of Sheng Ran's hand and then disappeared for a quarter of an hour.
When he came back, he was holding a piece of paper in his fingertips. After unfolding it, the fox's eyes, which were originally smiling, instantly gloomed.
"The owner of the drugstore has disappeared." He handed the note to the stone table, his voice filled with annoyance. "I guess they've discovered my secret investigations these days, so they plan to destroy all the evidence."
"The spy said that most of the shelves in the shop were overturned and there were signs of a struggle on the floor. They only found this under the counter."
Under the note was a palm-sized wooden plaque with the five crooked words "Outer Courtyard of the Holy Female Palace" engraved on it. There were brown medical stains on the edge, as if it had been rubbed when it was thrown away in a hurry.
"They say she's missing, but maybe... she's already dead." Yun Ling speculated the worst. "She was afraid her boss would reveal the poison swap, so she killed him to silence him."
Sheng Ran widened her eyes in disbelief. Could Sheng Jieyue and Situ Yu really be so cruel?
Huai Jun frowned, suddenly stood up, walked to the pool beside him, lightly touched a little with his fingertips, and sniffed it.
"As far as I know, the water veins of the central city are connected, and there are many channels under this pool. And in the water system near the Holy Female Mansion..." Huai Jun's voice was light but clear, "there is a faint stench of corpses."
Everyone around gasped.
"—It's most likely the owner of the pharmacy." Tu Shanyi took over in a heavy tone, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the stone table. "As expected, he's guilty as a thief. As soon as we arrived in Central City, we quickly destroyed the evidence related to the old case."
Pei Xiaoxing let out a deep breath. Even in this situation, he still calmly thought of a solution. "Ling Rui, I remember that the Cat Tribe was in the medicinal materials business in the early years. Do you have any previous dealings with this medicine shop?"
Ling Rui's expression grew solemn. He nodded, his tone firm, "I remember my father's account book mentioning that he purchased a batch of hemostatic herbs from this pharmacy ten years ago. Tomorrow morning I'll go home and look through the files. Maybe I can find their transaction records and maybe find something unexpected."
Sheng Ran didn't say anything, her fingertips stroking the marks on the wooden sign.
She searched through the original owner's memories and finally recalled the scene when she went to the pharmacy half a year ago.
The boss was an old orc with a wrinkled face. His eyes were always evasive when he spoke. At that time, the original owner thought it was just the cowardice of a small businessman and was quite impatient.
Now that I think about it, hidden in that cowardice might be the fear of being coerced.
"Don't be too hasty." She looked up at everyone, her tone calmer than before. "Since Sheng Jieyue dared to touch the boss, she must have expected us to investigate. Maybe she's waiting for us to fall into her trap."
"Tu Shanyi, tell the spies not to get too close and keep an eye on the movements of the Holy Female Mansion. Ling Rui, be careful when flipping the gear, don't let anyone notice."
Tu Shanyi looked at the calmness in her eyes and felt relieved for some reason.
When he saw her face turn pale just now, he was afraid that she was upset. But now he realized that his wife was never a panic-stricken dodder.
"I understand." He responded and added some hot soup to Sheng Ran's bowl. "Drink the soup first. It's not good for your health if it gets cold."
At dawn the next day, everyone went their separate ways.
Tu Shanyi changed into ordinary gray cloth clothes and took two Chamber of Commerce spies to mingle in the streets near the Shengci Mansion.
The spies were veterans who had been doing surveillance for years, and they quickly figured out the guard rotation pattern of the outer courtyard: "President, the guards change shifts every half hour, and there will be a three-minute break between shifts."
Tu Shanyi nodded and glanced at the birds in the corner of the outer courtyard.
These uncivilized birds and beasts are said to be Yun Ling's "old acquaintances" in the central city and can help to gather information.
——To be honest, it’s bullshit.
Tu Shanyi was stunned when he first saw this group of birds.
An old acquaintance, an old acquaintance, but at least he had to be a human! At the very least, he had to be a sentient, talking orc!
Yun Ling has no friends so he has no friends. Just say it directly. They won’t laugh at him.
What's the point of just picking a few birds to cause trouble?
But he didn't expect that these birds could actually understand what they were saying.
As soon as they heard Tu Shanyi's question, they came over in groups and pecked at him, their attacks even more brutally than Yun Ling's wind-based abilities.
Birds of a feather flock together. Now Tu Shanyi is convinced that these birds and beasts are indeed in the same group as Yun Ling! Otherwise, why are they so annoying!
He tentatively agreed to allow these birds and beasts to join his team.
Ling Rui went into the old archive of the Ling family's old house.
In the dusty warehouse, rows of wooden shelves were stacked higher than a person. He searched through the account books from ten years ago according to his memory. His fingertips ran across the yellowed pages, and he finally found his target in the wooden box at the bottom.
The handwriting on the account book was a little blurry, but the words "Purchasing 50 kilograms of hemostatic grass from Huichuntang, for the purpose of offering to the Shengci Palace" were still clearly visible.
"Offering?" Ling Rui frowned. There had been no large-scale sacrifices or wars in the past ten years, so why would he need fifty kilograms of hemostatic grass?
This is clearly an attempt to cover up other transactions under the guise of "offering".
Pei Xiaoxing took two trusted clansmen with him to inquire about information at the snack stalls around the pharmacy.
Wolves are born with keen hearing and can hear the conversation at the next table even if it is two streets away.
"Have you heard? The owner of Huichuntang was taken away by people from Shengma Mansion last night!"
"Is this true? I still owe the boss half a bag of copper coins..."
"Keep your voice down! People from the Holy Female Mansion are watching nearby, saying that the boss is selling fake medicine and harming people!"
Pei Xiaoxing quickly asked his tribesmen to note down the appearance of the person who was speaking, while he quietly followed the "stalkers" and watched them turn into the side door of the Holy Female Mansion.
Zhu Jiuyin, Huai Jun and Yun Ling followed Sheng Ran to the west of the city early in the morning.
The medicinal materials that Tu Shanyi had transported were delivered the night before. The temporary medical tent was crowded with patients and the air was filled with the smell of herbs.
As soon as Sheng Ran walked to the door of the medical tent, she was recognized by an old orc holding a bowl of medicine.
"Fairy girl, you're here!" The old orc stepped forward quickly, his cloudy eyes filled with gratitude. "After drinking the medicine you gave me yesterday, the black marks on my grandson's body have faded a lot!"
"Yes, yes! A few days ago you only sent us hot meals, and now you've even built a medical tent to treat us. I can't thank you enough for your kindness!"
Sheng Ran smiled with her eyebrows curved, but put her index finger to her lips, signaling everyone not to make too much noise.
Although she was always wearing a mask, her appearance was accidentally exposed. The people in the west of the city told everyone that a fairy who was as powerful as a god had come to them.
But fortunately, no one has linked this identity to Sheng Ran.
She breathed a sigh of relief and didn't want to expose her true appearance to Sheng Jieyue for the time being.
If everyone knew that the fairy in the west of the city and the ugly woman in the past were the same person, who knows how much blood and gore would be stirred up.
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